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Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, or MIAC, is a league in NCAA Men's Division III and Women's Division III. The conferencence has 13 members, all of which are private. The conference is an all-sport conference. Ten of the thirteen conference members sponsor varsity ice hockey. Three of the members are single sex schools. The men's conference dates back to the 1918-19 season. The women's conference dates back to the 1998-99 season. On July 30, 1998 the MIAC and the United States Olympic Committee announced a grant of $440,000 over four years to help supplement the start up of a women's hockey conference, which had been previously announced. As part of the discussion on the issuing of the grant Bethel College decided to go ahead with the formation of a women's ice hockey program and Bethel would receive a higher portion of the grant to help offset start up cost for the program. The College of St. Benedict and St. Catherine University are women's colleges and St. John's University is a men's college. St. Benedict and St. John's form a joint academic institution commonly referred to as CSB/SJU. Neither the men's or women's conference has produced a national champion. The men's conference has had teams finish as runners-up in 2000, 2005, and 2009 The women's conference has produced two Laura Hurd Award winners as the best player in Division III ice hockey, Sarah Moe, Gustavus Adolphus College (2002) and Andrea Peterson, Gustavus Adolphus College (2007). For the 2013-14 season the men's conference added the shootout and went to a three point system for game points. The new system awards 3 points for a regulation or overtime win, two points for a shootout win, one point for a shootout loss, and no points for a regulation or overtime loss. As of the 2015-16 season, the men's conference continues to use this system, white the women's conference uses the traditional 2 points for a win, 1 for a tie, and none for a loss (no points are awareded for an overtime loss). On May 22, 2019 the board that runs the conference, which is made up of the school presidents, announced that St. Thomas University was being removed from the conference involuntarily effective the spring of 2021. The release cites competitive parity as the main reason for the move. The university has been dominant in league competition accounting for about half of all MIAC championships (team and individual) since 2013. No announcement was made about the university's plans for joining a new conference.https://www.miacathletics.com/general/2018-19/releases/20190510vxuc8l Membership Changes *Carleton College, Gustavus Adolphus College, Hamline University, Macalester College, St. John's University, St. Olaf College, and University of St. Thomas were founding members in 1920. *Concordia College joined in 1921 before formal league play began. *Augsburg College joined in 1924 *St. Mary's University joined in 1926. *Carleton College withdrew in 1925 and rejoined in 1983 (the school has never sponsored ice hockey for either men or women). *St. John's first started playing ice hockey for 1932-33. *Gustavus Adolphus started playing ice hockey for 1936-37 *St. Olaf Oles left the conference from 1950 until rejoining the conference for the 1975-76 season. *The Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs were part of the conference from 1930 until 1965 when they joined the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The team joined the National Collegiate Hockey Conference when it formed for the 2013-14 season. The school is presently at the Division II level in all other sports except for ice hockey. *The conference did not sponsor any sports from the fall of 1943 to the spring of 1945 due to World War II and hockey was not played for the 1942-43 through 1945-46 seasons. *The Macalester Scots were members of the men's conference from its founding until the mid 1970's. The school drop the sport to the club level where it remains today. A women's club level team was formed in 2000 and is still playing at the club level. *Bethel University joined the conference in 1978. *Women's colleges St. Catherine University (1983) and St. Benedict (1985) joined the conference prior to the conference sponsoring women's ice hockey. *The Bethel Royals and Concordia Cobbers joined the Women's conference for the 1999-2000 season. *The Hamline Pipers and St. Olaf Oles joined the Women's conference for the 2000-2001 season. *St John's and St. Benedict are brother/sister schools. Men's Conference Membership Men's Conference Seasons The men's conference competes for the Saugestad Cup, which is named after Ed Saugestad who coached the Augsburg College hockey team from 1958 to 1996. His teams had a 503-354-21 record and won three NAIA national ice hockey championship titles. The conference tournament was first held in 1987. Women's Conference Membership College of St. Benedict and St. Catherine University are women's colleges and St. John's University is a men's college. Women's Conference Seasons Links *Men's league link *Women's league link References Category:NCAA Division III Conferences Category:NCAA Women's Division III Conferences